The U.S. House approves bill to revive Nevada nuclear waste dump.

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday approved an election-year bill to revive the mothballed nuclear waste dump at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain despite opposition from home-state lawmakers.

Supporters say the bill would help solve a nuclear-waste storage problem that has festered for more than three decades. More than 80,000 metric tons of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants sit idle in 121 communities across 39 states.

The bill would direct the Energy Department to continue a licensing process for Yucca Mountain while also moving forward with a separate plan for a temporary storage site in New Mexico or Texas.

The House approved the bill, 340-72, sending the measure to the Senate, where Nevada’s two senators have vowed to block it.

“The House can vote all they want to revive #YuccaMountain, but let’s be clear — any bill that would turn Nevadans’ backyards into a nuclear waste dump is dead on arrival,” Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto tweeted. “Yucca will never be anything more than a hole in the ground.”

But House members from both parties outside Nevada said it was past time for the federal government to fulfill its obligation to permanently dispose of spent nuclear fuel now sitting in dozens of states, near lakes, rivers and communities.

“People are ready to do something rather than nothing,” said Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., the bill’s chief sponsor.

“Regardless of your position on nuclear energy, we have to acknowledge the reality that tens of thousands of tons of [nuclear] waste already exist,” said Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y. “This is a problem for over 120 host communities across our country, and it will not be solved by continuing to ignore it.”

Under pressure from then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., President Barack Obama shelved the Yucca project in 2010.